Meet the faces of /r/LGBT. Introduce yourself, share your stories, art, creations, pictures. It's a queer hangout, but anyone's welcome. This is the place to get to know each other better, and is not limited to lgbt topics.

What makes you ____ :
My rats, for almost anything. I love them, they make me laugh. They also make me angry or worried when they decide to chew on things or find their way into some place they shouldn't be.

Also, the end of the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, where everyone bows makes me all teary-eyed.

One of my biggest pet peeves is not putting ketchup back the "wrong" way, if the lid is on the bottom.

Finally, people arguing against gay rights or "the gay lifestyle" make me both angry and want to laugh. Some of the arguments and facts that come up are very bizarre.

Sexuality

Coming out:
While in high school, my parents caught me browsing a gay-themed website (not porn, honest!). They were generally accepting, although it seemed they were just unsure of how to react. They were very concerned for my safety and strongly recommended I not come out. My mom also thought it was a phase. It was an awkward subject to bring up. Within the past 5 years or so, it's become a non-issue. My dad has even put up with some drunken rambling as he drove me home from a party where I discovered the guy I liked had a girlfriend.

My friends were also accepting. I only had one friend not handle it well. He was religious (Muslim), and didn't want to talk to me. After quite a bit of time passed, we "tolerated" being around each other (we had a lot of mutual friends). The relationship slowly improved, but it was very rocky. A couple years later, he's no longer religious, one of my closest friends, and very accepting. He's even apologized for how he reacted.

Relationship status/background: Loner.

Misc.

I wonder if I should mention my addiction to reddit here. Na. I'm not really addicted. Just one more turn. Oops, wrong addiction.

Last year, I just thought it'd be fun. I have no idea why I thought about it to begin with. I started doing my research watching videos and browsing forums. Once I learned about the 36" unicycles, I decided to go for it.

I started on 20". It took a few weeks, but wasn't too bad. A big part of it is just overcoming the thought/fear of falling. After I realized I could ride it, I bought my 36" unicycle. There was a bit of an adjustment. It took me a while to be able to get on it. Riding a unicycle's not too bad. Getting on is the hardest part.

Girls

In May, there was a huge rat hoarding case, but there was also a rescue attempt for the last ~32 rats. I wasn't sure if I was going to adopt one of them- they were all scared, none seemed social... until I met Shasta. Such a sweet girl. She convinced me to adopt three of that group. The others: Nestle, Twix - they move around too much for good pictures.

I love anything that compares languages, or anything that breaks down how languages work.

Two of my most frequently used books for language construction are:

Describing Morphosyntax: A Guide for Field Linguists - it's a very thorough book that describes how to describe a language, essentially. It's meant for field linguists to use when documenting a language they encounter, explaining a large variety of morphology and syntax. One of the Amazon reviews adds this in about it:

Well, guess what? A language creator is essentially a fieldworker working on an undiscovered language: his/her own. This book will guide a language creator in creating a grammar of his/her own language, and, when you get stuck, it's always helpful to see how natural languages do things.

The Language Construction Kit (a website that's recently been expanded into a book - both very useful). It's a handy guide that works through the process of language creation, giving tips on what to do (or not to do), things to look out for, difficulties, etc.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language is another good one, although it covers a much broader introduction to language in general- making it great for someone who doesn't want to read through more academic linguistics books.